Walsh criticises blanket ban on flights

There are now virtually no remaining no-fly zones in the UK, but it will be a busy day for airlines as they try to get schedules back to normal.

British Airways said it hoped to operate all long-haul flights departing from Heathrow and Gatwick.

BA boss Willie Walsh has criticised the blanket ban on flights that has been in place for some days.

He said it would take weeks to get back to normal, but he gave a diplomatic reaction to reporters after restrictions were eased last night.

"I do believe that lessons can and will be learned from this," he said, adding that, while passenger safety was of paramount importance, he believed some flights could have been allowed to operate in recent days.

After the re-opening of British airspace, Andrew Haines, chief executive of the UK's Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), insisted the aviation regulator had not been “bullied” by airlines into revising safety guidelines so that air space could be reopened.

He told GMTV: “The airlines know that their safety record is a fundamental lynchpin of their operation. The UK has one of the finest safety records in the world and there was no way they were going to compromise that and there was no way we would have allowed it.”

He continued: “If there is a volcano with significant eruptions, you must avoid it.

“What we’ve done over the last few days is work with international experts to establish whether or not a better guideline could be put into place, and that is what we’ve been able to do.

“And yesterday afternoon, we finally got confirmation from manufacturers that they were content that it was absolutely safe to have a revised guideline.”